Ernest Hébrard (Ερνέστ Εμπράρ)

Ernest Hébrard (1875 – 1933) was a French architect, archaeologist and urban planner. He is mostly renowned for his plan to reform the city of Thessaloniki.After the Great Fire of 1917 Thessaloniki was largely destroyed. The Greek PM E. Venizelos forbade the reconstruction of the city center until a full modern city plan was approved. This was accomplished by the "Hébrard plan", the plan Hébrard had conceived and developed with the aid of the Greek architects Aristotelis Zahos and Konstandinos Kitsikis.The plan swept away the oriental features of Thessaloniki while preserving its Byzantine heritage and transformed it into a European city.Unfortunately this plan was only partially implemented (mostly in Aristotelous Square, The Markets' Axis [i.e. Bezesteni Market, Vlali Market, Vatikioti Market (aka Athonos Square], as well as in few other buildings such as the Old Town Hall, the YMCA Building etc) due to reactions of the local landowners.Hébrard was also involved in several other projects, such as the upgrading of Casablanca, the restoration of Diocletian's palace at Split and urban planning for several towns in French Indochina, where he became head of the Indochina Architecture and Town Planning Service in 1923. His idea was to incorporate into French architecture elements of indigenous design from the colonial territories of Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos. In 1931 he returned to Paris where he died two years later.References: Wikipedia